HIBAPRESS – Rabat
A new documentary work is expected to be published, reopening the file of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi's exile, through a book entitled "My Journey to the Exile of Prince Muhammad bin Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi on the Island of Réunion" by Saleh bin Mahdi al-Samarrai; study and investigation by the Moroccan researcher Elias al-Hani, a text that restores one of the most significant journeys in the history of travel writing and provides an accurate historical reading of the exile.
The book documents the journey undertaken by its Iraqi author, Saleh al-Samarrai, in 1978 to the island of Réunion, where al-Khattabi was exiled, in an attempt to uncover the circumstances of this exile and its political and humanitarian dimensions, relying on field observation and historical contemplation, and provides rich material that reflects pivotal moments in the history of the Moroccan and Rif resistance. This work, which al-Hani was keen to prepare for publication after the death of its author, while preserving the accuracy of the historical material and the credibility of the analytical vision, (is not limited) to descriptive narration, but includes in-depth observations that blend emotional impression and intellectual analysis, evoking figures and symbols that marked history with values of giving and sacrifice, which gives the text a civilizational depth that transcends time and place. In this context, al-Hani said in a statement to the newspaper "HIBAPRESS" that this book "unveils one of the most important stages that remained hidden from the paths of the personality of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi while he was in exile in Réunion, especially since it was written through a collection of different narratives that were present on the day that al-Khattabi was on this island, and also reveals a number of events to try to rediscover the events of the death of al-Khattabi's mother, the education of the children, and other things that are mentioned in the book." Al-Hani added that this journey, which the book sheds light on, "represents an observation on the representation of modern Arab thought regarding the personality of al-Khattabi; the personality of Dr. Saleh al-Samarrai would not have paid attention to it by writing it, recording it, and recommending its printing were it not for the status that al-Khattabi enjoys in the imagination of contemporary Islamic thought."
